@ said:
Warped View of performance here http://thecumberlandthrow.com/2017/05/23/the-film-room-episode-1-enter-mitchell-moses/
Really interesting work, I love the GIFs wish I had figured out how to do that.
HOWEVER I smell an agenda before a paragraph has been written. That's how it unfolded for me, I read the reviewer finding support for his agenda, rather than basis his analysis entirely on what he saw. He seems like an Eels supporter, my first guess based on the time taken to review a loss like this.
On further investigation the site is 100% Eels media, so I was right.
But the agenda, IMO, some examples:
It is subtle but it draws Croker off the goal-line and opens up the channel for the kick. In spite of that excellent little passage of play, the Eels would go on to squander the opportunity presented in the next set with Tim Mannah dropping an inside pass from Moses on the third tackle.
Well Mannah drops the pass because it's a poor one from Moses. Mannah is standing still and Moses just dumps back on the inside. Yes all NRL footballers should catch passes but there is onus on halves to not pass unless it is on.
What we witness in the third GIF is both the most exciting and frustrating of what we have in Moses right now. His cleverly disguised change of pace draws in both Aidan Sezer and Josh Papalii hook, line and sinker as he fades to the sideline. There is a yawning chasm between Papalii and Priest but Kirisome Auva’a has over run the play likely thinking there was a kick coming. Auva’a eventually receives the ball but he is left flat-footed and the Raiders are able to recover their defensive integrity.
Yeah there is a gap because Raiders have not pushed across 100% evenly, but if there is no Parra player there to take advantage of it, then so what? Raiders are not going to put bodies where no players are. Raiders actually end up with 5-on-4 on this play because Moses inside runners are not used and don't draw defenders.
I personally hate this play from Moses, it's like C-grade Benji Marshall because his passing game is not great, nor are his evasive efforts. Yes he has a bit of a turn of speed, but as Brad Arthur said after the game, Eels were too lateral. Well this play is 100% lateral. Watching Auva'a, he gets his hot-shoe-shuffle on because Moses runs literally half-way across field, from under the posts to 5m of the sideline. Raiders handle it well because Sezer takes Moses but the inside player Papalii closes that gap in behind Sezer. Auva'a sets for a pass, then checks his run, then resets for a kick, then stops dead because Moses has cut across him. Not much for him to do, at least he is ready for the hand-off, even if the play is dead.
I have an agenda too, I want to see Moses fail badly. I thought he was pretty poor, certainly there was a lot of scrutiny and most of the media I heard said "mixed bag". I realise myself I will be over-negative because I've seen this type of game from Moses many times.
In the end Parra needed a special play to win the game, and it came from the Raiders right edge, not Parra. So when it's 16-16 with 10 to play, you want your halves to make that match-winning play, or at least to set it up, and predictably Eels, driven by Moses, failed with their end-game opportunities.
